Aberystwyth is the principal holiday resort and administrative centre of
the west coast of Wales. It is also home to the University of Wales
Aberystwyth and the National Library.
The town is nestled between three hills and two beaches, and hosts some
castle ruins, a pier and a harbour. The surrounding hills hold the visible
remains of a iron age fort and also a monument to Wellington and once
climbed offer stunning views of Cardigan Bay.

Aberystwyth is a
University town with some seven thousand students, ensuring it a vibrant
throughout the year and not just during summertime. Incidentally, there
are now ‘only’ fifty pubs left in Aberystwyth!

The seafront hosts
Victorian / Edwardian buildings mostly 4/5 stories high. The wide
promenade protect the buildings from the revenges of the Irish Sea and
offers space to sit, soak up the sun and view the surrounding hills and
mountains which in winter are often covered in snow. On a clear day you
may see the tallest mountain in Wales, Snowdon.

The harbour was once
one of the busiest in Wales and is fed by the rivers Ystwyth and Rheidol
(which incidentally, is the steepest river in Britain). Geographically,
Aberystwyth may be considered isolated from the rest of Wales. However,
this isolation made it necessary for the local people to look after
themselves and over the years it has acquired more resources than a town
of this size would normally have. It is now the centre of local rural
life and is visited by many to sample the numerous cafes, bars, and
restaurants including, Chinese, Indian, Italian and Mediterranean
cuisine.
The local weather is dominated by the sea and the Gulf Stream which
warms the whole region and makes for pleasurable visiting.

Long before the
Normans began their castle-building program, Iron Age settlers used the
hilltop called Pen Dinas to build a huge fortification, which still
dominates the skyline as you approach Aberystwyth from the south and
reminds us of the skills of its ancient builders.

The first Norman
castle was a ringwork affair castle, built in the early 12th Century.
Inevitably, the earth and timber defences proved too vulnerable and a
new site was chosen for a castle in Aberystwyth itself. This time it was
the Welsh, led by Llywelyn the Great who built the castle and it changed
hands several times before finally became useless against new weapons.
The last castle built at Aberystwyth once ranked among the greatest in
Wales but today, lies entirely ruined and offering only a faint image of
its once impressive past.

How then did Aberystwyth Castle become such a ruin? Amazingly, as early
as the 14th century, the concentric fortress began to decay. By 1343,
large portions of the main gateway and drawbridges, and the outer bailey
were falling down. The closeness of the castle to the pounding sea
causing much of the decay.

In 1404, Owain Glyndwr
seized the crumbling fortress. Within a few years the English regained
possession but after 1408, Aberystwyth Castle lost its strategic value
to the monarchy, and only minor repairs were attempted. During the Civil
War, the castle became a victim of Oliver Cromwell's ruthless policy of
slighting because the garrison sided with the king, Charles I. Most of
the castle stone was pilfered by locals to build their homes.

The Railway

The Aberystwyth
Electric Cliff Railway is the longest electric cliff railway in Britain.
It climbs Constitution Hill from the northern end of the town's
promenade with trains running every few minutes during the spring,
summer and early autumn.
Reaching the summit reveals an amazing panorama which on a clear day
extends as far as the Preseli Hills in Pembrokeshire to the south, while
the whole expanse of Cardigan Bay opens out to the west and the
mountains of Snowdonia to the North can also be seen. There is a cafe at
the summit and the famous Camera Obscura. The present building is a
recreation of the Victorian original. As the carefully-balanced mirror
revolves, detailed views of the surrounding countryside are thrown onto
the table in the centre of the building.
The Cliff Railway also provides the simplest start to the beautiful walk
over the cliff-tops to Clarach Bay, from where you can catch a bus back
to Aberystwyth.

Cilgerran
Castle in
Pembrokeshire, West Wales is some 43 miles south west from Aberystwyth.

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